The turning of the leaves and the imminent cold weather always meant one thing for me; the beginning of the first semester of university. With this came perilous assignments and deadlines but also seeing my friends who either went back home out of my city during summer. In this article, I’ll be reminiscing back to those days and how it has now solidified my meaning of Fall recently as a graduate.

The first thing I’ll always remember about Fall during university is the turning of the weather. The sudden change from basking in the summer sunlight and haze to the windy, biting cold will never cease to amaze me. I personally prefer the warmer weather as I find this colder weather to be a little somber and dismal with the rain and wind. However, one perk of this is wrapping up in cute knitwear and the beginning of Christmas festivities. As soon as November hits the UK, Christmas can already be seen throughout supermarket aisles and the annual Christmas markets across towns nationally.

Another thing I’ll always remember is meeting up with those friends I parted ways with during summer, as well as meeting new ones. Through my work at the student newspaper, I had the chance to meet so many like-minded individuals who had similar interests to myself, and it was very refreshing. The newspaper held many socials across the Fall semester and it was great mingling with my friends across these. I vividly remember last year how different sections of the paper collaborated with one another, and we went out, bracing for the cold weather, to visit a restaurant and eat altogether.

Amongst all of this fun, we cannot forget what university is all about the exams and assignments. The majority of my course (which was English and Creative Writing) was graded based on coursework and my final year project. This time last year, I was probably knee-deep in these assignments, and I can’t help but miss them now. I’ll always reminisce and miss the structure that university gave me, although it was very mismatched at times.

One thing I’ll always miss, however, is the beginning of my final year project during this first semester last year. My final year project is now my first novel and I couldn’t be more grateful to my Creative Writing degree to propel me to the creative potential that I have today. This time last year, we were told to brainstorm and give rough ideas of what our dissertations would be.

Dissertations are termed as a ‘long essay on a particular subject, written for a university degree or diploma’ and they are the final thing which universities grade students on as their final graduation grade. My dissertation was finally titled as ‘Ishq E Taqseem: How has contemporary literature and screen media represented the hidden stories of the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan?’ and I wrote the first part of my novel Ishq E Taqseem (meaning ‘Love and Separation’) as well as a critical essay reflecting on how the 1947 Partition between India and Pakistan was represented across different kinds of media. It was an absolute joy to write, and I’m so glad I chose this topic as it was a chance to explore my own culture and heritage as a young British Pakistani woman.

Overall, I have loved reminiscing back on the Fall season and what it meant throughout my time at university. I hope this article inspires you to do the same!

This was written by our contributing writer, Halima Ahad.